March 2011
February 2011
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“For a little more than three hours the immortally talented actor took us on a journey; he began the night game and filled with possibility during the opening skit, but as the hours wore on his enthusiasm dampened and waned. Halfway through he tested the very boundaries of our concepts of humiliation by coming out on stage in Marilyn Monroe drag for a piece that was anti-comedy in the finest Andy Kaufman tradition. Finally by the end Franco was apathy personified, lazily reading his lines from the teleprompter, seemingly unclear that The King’s Speech had just won Best Picture, and even rolling his eyes in the final moments of the show.It was breathtaking, and the commitment that he showed to his performance piece was astonishing. In just over three hours Franco had taken us through the entire awards season, starting with the excitement of Telluride and Toronto, stopping at the whoring of the guild and critic awards (the Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend dress!) and ending with the sheer hateful exhaustion at the Kodak – complete with the prediction of us all eventually forgetting who even won this year.”
—Devin Faraci
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